


Thump Thump

by orphan_account



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-24
Updated: 2013-02-26
Packaged: 2017-12-03 12:58:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/698494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What starts as an innocent request from a child churns up old traumas and unresolved tensions for Jack.  But maybe, if he's lucky, it'll bring him just a little bit closer to his new family.</p><p>(In response to a kink-meme request that I can no longer find the link for...if anyone recognizes it, let me know?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a angsty/fluffy one-shot, but apparently I can't do anything small.

“Thump thump thump!”

“What’s the consensus, Doctor Sophie?”

“Thump thump thump!” Sophie repeated, giggling, the ends of an overlarge stethoscope threatening to fall out of her ears at any second.

Jamie laughed. “I’ll take that as a good sign.”

Sophie smiled at him, and decided the grass needed its heart beat checked too.

"Sophie, you're gonna get mud on the end," Jamie sighed, but let his little sister continue pressing the stethoscope to the ground.

He had his Field Journal spread out across his lap, and was making notes on any strange life forms he could find in his mother's back garden in the middle of summer. So far he'd discovered a four leaf clover and what he decided was a suspiciously sparkly slug. The grass in the rest of Burgess was already turning a crunchy brown color in the July heat, but the Bennet's back yard, and Jamie's mother's garden, remained uncommonly green, thanks to a certain soft spot a certain rabbit had for certain blond-haired little girls.

(All the ladies in Mrs. Bennet's church group said her flowers were the work of an angel, which had made Jamie laugh, the image of the Pooka in a dress filling his head. The first time Sophie actually called the rather flustered Easter Bunny 'Angel' was a moment Jamie would fondly remember forever.)

The summer only promised to get warmer as it progressed, and Jamie was already abandoning his shoes whenever it was appropriate--or whenever he could get away with it. So when a cold breeze ruffled the pages of his notebook, Jamie looked up at the sky expectantly.

“Hey Jack!” he called.

"JackJackJack!" Sophie chorused, bouncing in the grass.

"Hey kid, hey Soph!" Jack said, dropping into a sitting position as he touched down. "You guys miss me?"

"Bunny's gonna be mad you're killing his grass," Jamie told him, pointing at the icy circle that spreading out around Jack.

"I'm sure the Kangaroo will get over it," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, he's playing favorites, giving you guys preferential treatment like this."

"Gosh, I wonder what that's like," Jamie said, grinning. "Maybe like getting six snow days in a single month last December. You know, we had to go two days into summer break for that." Jamie hadn't minded though. Summer was long, and snow days in Burgess meant Jack was there for every second of the fun.

"Wow, someone's learning sass"! Jack said, sitting back. "Be careful, you'll end up on North's naughty list!" But Jamie could tell he was proud.

“Thump thump!” said Sophie, raising the stethoscope toward him.

Jack quirked an eyebrow. “Well hello to you too.”

“She wants to check your heartbeat," Jamie explained. "Mom found us a real stethoscope at a garage sale. It actually works! And look, I got a magnifying glass for my nature research.”

Jamie raised a very large, very old looking magnifying glass for Jack's inspection.

“Neat!” Jack said. "Find anything cool yet?"

"The results are still inconclusive," Jamie said, making Jack laugh.

"Check Jack's heart?" Sophie asked.

Jamie watched Jack cringe for a moment, but then he was smiling again. “Hey Soph, how about we check my lungs or something instead?”

“Jaaaaack! Thump thump!” Sophie whined.

Jack sighed. “Alright, come here, you,” he said, reaching forward to pull a shrieking Sophie into his lap. She giggled and pushed her hair off her face, where it fell back just as quickly. She adjusted the stethoscope in her ears and pressed the end to Jack's chest, listening.

After a few seconds, Sophie frowned, and then looked up at Jack plaintively.

"Have you got it on right, Soph?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah, she's doing fine," Jack told Jamie. “Sorry kid," he added to Sophie. "I don’t have a heartbeat.”

“What?” Jamie asked.

“I just…don’t have one," Jack said, shrugging.

“What happened to it?" Jamie asked. "Is this a Guardian thing? Do none of you have heartbeats?”

“No, I…think it’s just me.”

“Jack’s dead?” Sophie asked.

“Sophie,” Jamie said, rolling his eyes. “Of course Jack’s not dead, don’t be silly.”

“Dead!” Sophie insisted, giggling.

"I have to go," Jack said suddenly, placing Sophie back on the grass and standing up.

"You just got here!" Jamie said, looking up at him.

"Sorry, Jamie. Uh, important things to do. Guardian business. Look, I'll be back next week, okay?"

Jack sounded really sorry, and a little sad. "Alright, Jack," he said.

"And we'll...we'll make snow cones?" Jack offered.

"Yeah!" Jamie said, eyes lighting up. "Didja hear that, Sophie? Snow cones! Like at the fair!"

"'no-cones!" Sophie squealed.

"Haha, alright then!" Jack said, taking to the air. "Next week, I promise!"

"You'd better!" Jamie called after him.

***

Two days later found the siblings outside once more, and another Guardian dropping by. This one decidedly fluffier.

"Well, I can see the Icicle's been here recently," Bunny said, toeing the deadened circled where Jack had sat.

"I told him you'd be mad," Jamie insisted.

“Madmadmad!” chorused Sophie from Bunny’s lap.

"Nah, I'm not mad. Kid can't help himself, I suppose. Here--"

Bunny ran a paw over the wilted grass and the patch immediately began to perk up, life flowing back into the greenery.

"Ooo," said Sophie, leaning down from Bunny's lap to pat the new growth.

"Jack says you play favorites with us," Jamie said.

Bunny scoffed. "He's one to talk."

Jamie smiled. "That's what I said."

"Jamie!" his mom called from inside. "Can you come here a minute?"

"Ugh, she's gonna make me put shoes on. Hey Bunny, watch Soph for me please? Just make sure she doesn't eat dirt or anything while I'm gone," he said, and was off, slipping through the gap in the sliding glass door.

"Don't listen to him," Bunny whispered conspiratorially to Sophie. "Little dirt never hurt anyone."

Sophie giggled and rubbed her face against his fur.

"Got any new stories for me?" he asked.

Sophie didn't answer; instead she stilled, ear pressed to his chest ruff, and then looked up at him, her little face very solemn.

“Jack’s dead.”

Bunny froze.

“What?" he asked.

“Jack’s dead.” She said again, and then pressed her ear back to Bunny’s ruff. “Thump thump thump,” she mumbled to herself.

"Bunny not dead!" she exclaimed with a smile.

"Hey," Bunny said gently. "Who told you Jack was dead?"

"Jack," Sophie said matter-of-factly. "Ooo! Pretty!"

Sophie jumped up to chase a butterfly just as Jamie walked back outside.

"Thanks, Bunny."

"Anytime, kid. Look, I gotta run, we got a Guardian meeting I'm gonna be late for if I don't get going, and I'd never hear the end of it."

Bunny said his goodbyes and quickly tapped a foot to access a tunnel.

He needed to have a few words with a certain Frost Spirit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Himenomau for finding the original prompt! 
> 
> http://rotg-kink.dreamwidth.org/2200.html?thread=3152280

"Bunny!" boomed North. "Nice of you to join us."

"Ooo, right on the dot, Cottontail," Jack said as Bunny entered the main hall of the Pole. "Thought you might not be coming." The assembled Guardians had gathered around 

North's giant fireplace, waiting for their last member to arrive. Well, Jack was seated as far from the fire as possible as he could be while still being included in the ‘circle’ which left him perched on the back of the couch. But hey, it still counted.

"Rack off, I just did Burgess to the Pole in under ten minutes," Bunny told the frost spirit, grinning. "I'd like to see you do better. Hey Sandy."

"Aww, were you visiting Sophie again?" Tooth asked as Bunny accepted a mug of cider from the Sandman.

"Maybe," Bunny answered gruffly. "Someone's gotta make sure those kids have a proper influence."

"I visit often enough," Jack said, frowning.

"Like I said."

"Hey!"

“Speaking of which, we really need to work on your definition of ‘fun’, Frostbite. Did you really have to tell Sophie you were dead?” Bunny asked, settling on the side of the sofa opposite from Tooth.

“What? Oh, Jack, you didn’t,” Tooth said, as Jack’s expression turned to surprise and then melted into guilt as he was caught between their stares.

“She told you?” he asked, looking to Bunny.

“Course she told me, Frostbite, the kid's three, she doesn't exactly censor herself. Do not put your frozen toes on me," Bunny said, scooting away from Jack’s dangling feet and cradling his cider so the steam curled his whiskers. "I mean, I know you’ve had a bit more face time with the ankle-biters than the rest of us in recent years, but last I checked, death wasn’t a topic you normally joke about with the young ones."

"Eh, the children like the vampires these days, no?" North asked from his seat in his giant chair to their left.

"Not three-year-olds, North!" Bunny said, indignant.

"It wasn't a joke!" Jack interrupted hotly. "It just kind of...came up," he said, looking away with a shrug.

"What do you mean, it just 'came up,' how does something like that just 'come up'?" Bunny asked. "I mean, what did you think, it would be amusing to traumatize a three-year-old?"

"Bunny!" Tooth hissed.

"She was traumatized?" asked Jack in shock. He thought she’d seemed rather okay with the idea…

"Well, no," Bunny admitted. "She was a bit too interested in a swallowtail to make much fuss about it, but still."

Jack sighed, looking miserable, and then said resignedly, "She wanted to check my heartbeat."

"What?"

"Jamie and Sophie's mom got them a stethoscope," Jack explained. "And Sophie was playing doctor or something and she wanted to check my heart."

Sandy mimed a physician’s regalia excitedly.

“Yeah, exactly!” Jack said, smiling.

Bunny raised his eyebrows. "You got something against stethoscopes?” he asked. “If you didn't want to play with her, you could have just said, instead of coming up with something like that--"

"What? No, I did let her!" Jack cried. "Maybe I shouldn't have, you know, but I couldn't think of a reason not to... She came to the conclusion all on her own, and well, I just...didn't contradict her."

North frowned. "I am confused. You let the little Sophie listen to your heart and she told you that you were dead?"

Jack looked around. "Yeah," he told them, like he was stating the obvious. "Well, she didn't find anything, did she, so what was I supposed to say then?"

"Wait. Wait, are you--" Bunny paused, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Frostbite, are you saying you don't have a--a heartbeat?"

Jack grabbed Bunny's paw and pressed it roughly over the left side of his chest, right over where his heart should have been, where it presumably was still, just…not working anymore.

Bunny stared, expression growing more and more alarmed as he felt the nothingness there. Jack watched him strain his ears in the silence, watched as those big ears twitched to reassure himself of the other Guardian’s heartbeats. And then Bunny seemed to realize something else.

"Mate...you're not breathing."

Jack blinked, surprised, and took a breath. "No, I wasn't. Sorry."

Four pairs of eyes stared at him in shock.

Bunny slowly removed his paw. "So. When Sophie said you were dead, you didn't contradict her because...?"

"Because I'm dead, Bunny. I died.” Jack said. "You guys don't have to look so horrified," he added, fidgeting under the stares.

"You...wanna talk about it, mate?" Bunny asked gruffly.

"What? Why?" Jack asked.

“Why?” repeated Tooth. “Jack, you just told us you were dead!”

"Yeah?” Jack said with an unspoken so what? “I've been this way for 300 years, I'm kind of used to it.”

Tooth just looked at him, a little lost and quite a bit heartbroken, so Jack added, “I mean, it took me a while to even realize that other people had to breathe, had heartbeats. I’ve never known any different."

“But, your memories…? You must have been alive, once?” North said. Jack hadn’t told any of them the specifics of what he’d seen, just that he’d looked.

“Well,” said Jack, grin slipping a shade. “Yeah, I guess it’s a little weird remembering how it felt to be alive, now, but no need to dwell on that, right?”

North shared a long look with Sandy.

“What is wrong with everyone?” Jack demanded.

“You have been dead for 300 years,” said North sadly. “As well as being alone. It is just another thing we did not notice, another aspect in which we failed you, Jack.”

“North…” said Jack, “It’s okay. I’m okay, yeah? The alone thing sucked more than the dead thing, especially because I didn’t even realize until I got my memories back.”

“How did it happen?" asked Tooth. “I mean, if you don’t mind my asking.”

“Fell through some ice,” Jack said with a wry smile. “Ironic, right?”

“Oh, Jack,” Tooth said tearfully. “You drowned?”

“Tooth, I am okay, I promise!”

Sandy hesitantly formed an image of the lake in Burgess.

“You got it, Sandy,” Jack said.

“Wait,” said Bunny again. “Isn’t that the lake where we defeated Pitch?”

“Yep,” Jack told him. “It’s where I came out of the ice for the first time, and it’s been the closest thing I have to a home for 300 years. It may be small, but that thing is surprisingly deep.”

“You died there,” said Bunny.

“We’ve established that.”

“I don’t understand how you’re so calm about this.”

“And I don’t understand why you’re so worked up about it!” Jack said, a little louder than he’d meant to.

“Boys!” barked North, and both Jack and Bunny rounded on him with matching glares.

“I think this calls for group hug!”

Jack’s glare turned horrified. “No, North, really, no.”

But Sandy was nodding encouragingly and Tooth was already plastered to his side in a crush of feathers. North was descending on him before he knew it, dragging an equally reluctant Bunny into the wide expanse of his embrace.

“Uh.” Jack was pressed on every side by warm bodies. It was…weird. Tooth nuzzled her crest into his neck on the right, Bunny squirmed uncomfortably against him on the left, North had gathered all three of them to his chest, and Sandy flew around to cuddle up against his back.

“Guys?” Jack said.

“Yeah, North, I think we’re done,” added Bunny.

“Nonsense, this is nice, yes?” said North, squeezing them impossibly tighter so that even Tooth let out a little oof at the pressure. “We do not do this often enough.”

“North, mate,” Bunny gasped, “Jack may not need to breathe, but the rest of us would like the use of our lungs, thanks.”

“Ah! Sorry!” said North, loosening his grip and moving back slightly. But with all the weight now concentrated on the back of the couch, North’s abrupt departure rather upset the balance.

“Strewth!” Bunny exclaimed as the couch tipped back. There was a scramble to disengage, but too many limbs were wrapped up in other limbs, and not even Tooth managed to beat her wings fast enough to clear the wreckage.

Jack blinked up from the floor, flat on his back on something…sandy? Oh.

“Sorry Sandy,” he winced. A golden thumbs up hovered in the air above him in answer. Tooth giggled from where she sprawled half on top of him, and Bunny rolled away with a paw to his head. North peered over the edge of the fallen couch sheepishly.

“Everyone alright?” he asked.

“Can I vote to opt out of future group hugs?” Bunny moaned.

“We will be more careful next time,” North reassured him.

Sandy wiggled out from under Jack to help North reset the couch and Bunny began berating North in the background for his bruises. As Jack pulled himself up and dusted the dreamsand from his clothes, he caught Tooth smiling at him sorrowfully.

“No, stop it,” he told her, pointing playfully. “No more sad. None of it.”

“Alright!” she said, throwing up her hands. “Fine. But if you ever want to talk, you know where I am.”

“Deal,” said Jack, smiling. “Let’s go make sure these two don’t kill each other.”

Tooth looked over and gasped. “Boys! Drop those weapons, this is a no-weapons meeting!”

Jack just shook his head and settled back to watch the fun.

***

The next week found Jack back in the Bennet’s backyard, dutifully forming snowballs that Jamie promptly stuffed into paper cones and doused in juice. Sophie’s mouth was stained purple already, and Jamie was once again barefoot, mostly because his shoes had gotten a bit wet and were sitting out to dry in the sun. Jack may have gotten bored and stuffed a handful of snow down the back of Jamie’s shirt which, of course, had promptly started a snowball fight in the middle of the July heat, and now the backyard was covered in small half-melted lumps of white.

But that had been twenty minutes ago, and Jack was starting to get bored again.

And then he had an idea.

“Hey Jamie.”

“What?”

“I bet I can hold my breath longer than you.”


End file.
